Notes from WWE’s 2022 Fiscal 3rd Quarter Report

WWE held an investor’s meeting on Wednesday discussing the results from their fiscal 2022 third quarter report.

In regards to revenues, WWE generated $304.6 million in net revenues for the fiscal quarter, up 19% compared last year’s fiscal third quarter. Operating income for the fiscal quarter was $58.9 million, down 8% compared to last year’s fiscal third quarter.

WWE generated a net income of $41.7 million for the fiscal quarter, which was down compared to last year’s fiscal third quarter of $43.5 million.

In regards to other financial areas, WWE’s Adjusted OIBDA for the fiscal quarter was $91.2 million, up 17% compared to last year’s fiscal third quarter. WWE’s events revenue for the fiscal quarter was $35.2 million, up compared to last year’s fiscal third quarter of $28 million. WWE’s consumer revenue for the fiscal quarter was $36.4 million, up 45% compared to last year’s fiscal second quarter.

In regards to this past September’s Clash at the Castle event, it was announced that this event was the most viewed international event in WWE history.

In regards to Money In The Bank 2022, SummerSlam 2022, and Extreme Rules, it was stated that all three events were the most viewed events in series history on NBC’s Peacock service. Money in the Bank saw an increase of 17%, SummerSlam saw an increase of 20%, and Extreme Rules saw an increase of 36% compared to last year’s events.

Other notable highlights from WWE’s investor’s meeting:

• WWE co-CEO Nick Khan stated that this past October’s Extreme Rules 2022 event was the most watched event in Extreme Rules history and praised WWE’s “White Rabbit” marketing for helping achieve that success.
• Khan also stated that ticket sales for next year’s Royal Rumble event in San Antonio, Texas have already become the second highest ever sales for a Royal Rumble event in Royal Rumble history. Khan stated that he believes it will end up surpassing the all-time record for highest ever gross for a Royal Rumble by the time of the event in January of 2023.
• In regards to WrestleMania 39, Khan stated that ticket sales for both nights have already reached 100,000 in combined sales.
• Khan also stated that the company recently signed a new deal with Hulu for their content to remain on the service and for the production of a new series featuring Montez Ford and Bianca Belair. Khan stated “WWE Studios will premiere a new series on Hulu featuring superstars Bianca Belair and Montez Ford. The eight-episode first season is currently in production. We are also pleased to be doing more business with our friends at Disney and Hulu where we extended our Raw re-air rights deal.”
• Khan also stated that WWE will be hosting a talent search in Africa starting next week in Nigeria. Khan stated “This deal also involves the introduction of new, localized WWE content, starting with content creation around the WWE talent search in Africa. Beginning next week, we will have members of the WWE talent recruiting team traveling to Nigeria to start the search.”
• WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque praised the company’s “White Rabbit” project that led to the return of Bray Wyatt this past October. Levesque also stated that Wyatt’s shirt was the #1 selling shirt on all of Fanatics on the night of his return to the company.
• In regards to WWE’s current creative direction, Levesque stated “It’s looking at a year-long cycle of content creation over that year and trying to pick places that you want to go to and put them into your creative GPS system and figure out how you want to get to those things. It’s looking further ahead than we’ve ever done before. As we’re rounding the bend to come into the new year and looking at WrestleMania, I’m already beginning in my mind, with the team, collaborate on what we want next year’s WrestleMania to look like and how we want the spring coming out of WrestleMania to transfer into the summer and into the fall. It’s a large cycle and the further we can get ahead of it, to know where we want to go, obviously, our business being different than making movies or anything else with the human beings involved, injury rates, everything else that come along with it. When I look at the creative we’re doing now and the success of that, understand we’re still doing that without Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton. Those are significant stars that, when they return, will move the needle as well. The other big thing for us is focusing on character development and as you see a lot of stars returning, you will see stars coming up through our developmental system that have never been seen on a Raw or SmackDown before, developing those characters so that you’re invested in them, each individually so that they mean more within the programming itself. For us, it’s keeping things fresh, trying outside the box things. Some are going to work, some are not, but the White Rabbit stuff was outside of the box thinking that came out of this creative team and that leads you to be able to try new things that you’ve never tried, keep the success, lose the losses. I’m not afraid of the losses, that’s where I learn. The successes don’t teach me nearly as much as the losses do. When things don’t work, that’s phenomenal, we’ll figure out why they didn’t, and the next one will. I’m not afraid of any of that. It’s really moving forward, but having a plan of where you want to go.”
• In regards to NXT Europe, Levesque stated that the current plan for its launch and development is similar to what they had for NXT UK prior to the COVID-19 pandemic derailing those plans and goals. Levesque also stated that one of the goals for NXT Europe is for it to act as a developmental hub for other regions including India and to also act as a springboard for future NXT brands around the globe.
• In regards to WWE’s NIL program, Levesque stated that WWE’s current timeline is around four to six months of training for NIL talent at their Performance Center before they can potentially move on to their NXT brand and continue with their development. Levesque also stated that he currently views a bright future for both WWE’s NIL program and their NIL talent due to how fast some of them have been developing in their system.

Source: PWInsider.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3